on st. patrick's day my potluck went off without a hitch. nate and i made carrot-cilantro soup and baked tofu/mushroom/red peppers with peanut sauce. katy brought rice salad and ice cream, but had to leave danny at home. kevin and mary came wielding a green salad and all the necessary accoutrements to make cookies. good company, good food, and good fun making cookies from scratch. after we finished dinner, we got serious about dessert.

everyone joined in. nate was partial to cutting out half shapes, to create animals with missing limbs, and creepy looking blobs. even katy made some hearts and small animals, despite the dietary restrictions which must have been somewhat maddening. mary holds the pants end of a mutilated figure.

kevin's not sure the freshly baked cookies need much more besides a direct route to his mouth.

mary brought cookie cutters, pre-made dough, already made icing, and food dye so we could create a range of icing options. it's a good thing i'd done the dishes. we used all my mugs and spoons to make our cookie factory.

nate holds a scary no-necked figure - possibly the negative of the incredible hulk. possibly a deranged oompa loompa.

the winning cookie was a group effort. nate made a duck missing half its neck. kevin took some pure red food dye to the neck, and ... voila!

nate pretends to eat duckie, but clearly he earned Most Valuable Cookie and cannot be eaten immediately.

the potluck cookie collection included a detailed bunny, a broken heart, a spring star, duck hero, an elephant with a star, a black heart, the pants end of an unfortunate man, and the irish flag.

since we've known mary since we were all just wee little college ladies, katy and i can't quite get over mary being pregnant. and so enormously pregnant at that. the twins are getting big, and we made mary stand sideways so we could get some good looks.

and, just in case were weren't sure, katy shows us where all the cookies should go.